Accounts and Records to be maintained under the GST Regime – Warehouse owners and Transporters.

The purpose of this article is to create awareness about the soon to be implemented Goods and Service Tax in India. This article is the third article of the series of articles on accounts and records to be maintained under GST based on GST Act and Accounts and Records Rules. This article covers special requirements applicable for Warehouse Business and Transport Business.

As per section 35(2) of the CGST Act, every owner or operator of warehouse or godown or any other place used for storage of goods and every transporter, irrespective of whether he is a registered person or not, shall maintain records of the consignor, consignee and other relevant details of the goods in such manner as may be prescribed.

As per Rule 3 of the Accounts and Records Rules, every person required to maintain records and accounts in accordance with the aforesaid provisions, if not already registered under the Act, shall submit the details regarding his business electronically on the Common Portal in FORM GST ENR-01, either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner and, upon validation of the details furnished, a unique enrollment number shall be generated and communicated to the said person.

The person enrolled as aforesaid in any other State or Union territory shall be deemed to be enrolled in the State or Union Territory. So no need to obtain separate enrollment number for each state.

Every person who is enrolled as aforesaid should, where required, amend the details furnished in FORM GST ENR-01 electronically on the Common Portal either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner.

Any person engaged in the business of transporting goods should maintain records of goods transported, delivered and goods stored in transit by him and for each of his branches.

Every owner or operator of a warehouse or godown should maintain books of accounts, with respect to the period for which particular goods remain in the warehouse, including the particulars relating to dispatch, movement, receipt, and disposal of such goods.

The owner or the operator of the godown should store the goods in such manner that they can be identified item wise and owner wise and shall facilitate any physical verification or inspection by the proper officer on demand.

The author is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and also a qualified Company Secretary. The author has also done DISA(ICAI), certificate on IFRS (ICAI), Certificate on Forex and Treasury Management (ICAI), Certificate on Forensic Accounting and Fraud Prevention (ICAI). The author practices as a Chartered Accountant under the name and style of Rishabh Kumar Barmecha and Associates and is an expert in auditing, financial investigation, direct and indirect taxation. The author can be reached at rishabhkumarbarmecha@gmail.com or 91 9007909221 or Twitter @CARKBarmecha.